Stock futures higher on signs of Greek debt progress

Stock index futures rose on Tuesday, a day after the S&P 500 moved into positive territory for 2010, as Greece appeared to be making progress toward a resolution on aid from the European Union.

The European Commission said debt-troubled Greece must take additional measures to reach its deficit reduction target of 4 percent of gross domestic product in 2010, but the Greek government said it was united and determined to do what was necessary to reach the goal.

Now that we've erased the S&P losses for 2010, sights are on bigger and better things, said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in North Brunswick, New Jersey.

Earnings season is pretty much done. The European situation will be key.

Monday's gains on Wall Street pushed both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq into positive territory for 2010, with the now Dow off just 0.2 percent for the year.

Later in the session, U.S. automakers release February sales. Economists in a Reuters survey expect U.S. median annualized sales of 3.7 million cars and 4.2 million trucks. In January, the figures were 3.8 million cars and 4.18 million trucks.

Shares of chipmaker Qualcomm Inc , a technology bellwether, rose 2.6 percent to $36.50 in premarket after the company announced a new $3 billion share buyback plan and raised its quarterly dividend by 12 percent.

European shares were flat on Tuesday morning, with falls in financials and drugmakers offsetting gains in personal goods makers after L'Oreal rose on a report Swiss food group Nestle might buy a stake in the cosmetics group.

Asian shares rose for a third session, led by tech stocks, while the Australian dollar slipped on uncertainty about the pace of future rate hikes.

U.S. stocks rose for a second straight day on Monday, boosted by AIG's record-setting deal to sell a major Asian unit and on gains in semiconductor shares after SanDisk Corp boosted its revenue view.